Mobile coverage for Copeton Dam remains a high priority for the Inverell Shire Council, mayor Paul Harmon has said.
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A new tower at Fig Tree Hill, which would provide coverage for the entire valley, is the first of eight mobile black spots the council has identified as priority locations for the fourth round of the federal government’s $220 million Mobile Black Spot Program.
Other priorities include the co-location of infrastructure on the White Rock Mountain and Gilgai towers, and new towers on Gragin Mountain, Graman, Bukkulla, Bonshaw (Hetherington’s site) and at the Pines site.
These will be submitted to the National Mobile Black Spot Database, from which the federal government will select locations to be advertised for carriers to build base stations.
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“Council has always been advocating for better mobile coverage within our region,” Cr Harmon said.
“I’ve seen a number of ministers, federal and state, come to Inverell to talk about mobile phone black spot areas, and of course nothing seems to really happen. We’ve had some improvement in some coverage, but of course [Copeton Dam] is huge on our list.”
Cr Harmon said the dam welcomed up to 10,000 visitors during the Christmas holidays, and mobile coverage would improve their safety.
Play on words
He said he was frustrated with the rigidness of the terminology in past rounds of black spot funding.
“If they want to be really prescriptive – [mobile black spot means] there’s no mobile coverage there at all, whereas we know some of the towers that we’ve actually asked to be upgraded, we do have a little bit of mobile phone coverage, so therefore it hasn’t met all that criteria,” he said.
“I’m hoping for a bit of relaxing of that definition around ‘black spot’ and we actually talk about the fact of the benefits for our community. And I think that’s a little bit different with this program that’s been rolled out.”
The council was set to discuss this issue in its monthly meeting today.
Councillors will also debate whether the council will offer financial support for each nominated site in an effort to encourage carriers to submit a tender.
In previous rounds, the council offered a maximum of $20,000 contribution per site, for the construction of an access road to the tower site.
